Rawd’l-Janaan

About the Text

I originally translated this text in 1994 when I first began working as a Muslim Chaplain in the California Department of Corrections in northern California. I encountered a penal system that openly boasted of not being concerned with rehabilitation, but retribution and implementation of the verdicts of the courts. Law books and libraries were being systemically removed from the prisons and the only level of education the “CDC” became concerned with for the inmates was a high school education, and inmates attaining their GED certificates.

Any education beyond that during the year of 1994 and after was considered a waste of state funds, and posed a treat because it was from these educated inmates that well organized and legally warranted litigations ensued. What was left was for inmates to work off their exhobirtant court fines by working for the last bastion of slavery in the United States sanctioned by the government in 1864 in the words “slavery would no longer remain in these United States exceptas punitive punishment.”

The condition of the Muslim inmates was far worse than all others. They were being denied their rights to practice their religion in a manner that would lead to their rehabilitation and reform. In addition to this, the majority of the Muslim ‘chaplancy’ remained woefully ignorant of the religion they were being highly paid to teach and represent. Most of the Muslim chaplaincy were mere ‘timekeepers’ concerned with giving weekly Christian style preaching on Fridays, assuring the Muslim inmates acquiesced to any and all sanctions from the “CDC;” and where one particular Muslim chaplain used his position to maintain illicit affairs with one of the female relatives of a Muslim inmate he was sworn to guide and assist on the path to Allah ta’ala.

The situation of the Muslim populations in the“CDC” system when I was hired there was deplorable, and this was worsened by the cynical and jaded attitudes of the inmates who had resigned themselves to their lot. It was clear that the system required a miracle, if this lamentable situation were to change.

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Ribāt Saiful Haqq

Manan’l-Manaan

Understanding the Minhaj of Shehu Uthman Ibn Fuduye’

Shaykh Abu Alfa Umar Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, Directorate /SIIASI

At-Tafriqa Bayna Tasawwuf

The Garden of Supplication

Sultan Al-Hajj Abu Bakr (May Allah preserve him) Amin.

Waziri Junayd (RA) Said…

“Whoever does not inform his children of his grandparents has destroyed his child, marred his descendants, and injured his offspring the day he dies. Whoever does not make use of his ancestry has muddled his reason. Whoever is unconcerned with his lineage has lost his mind. Whoever neglects his origin, his stupidity has become critical. Whoever is unaware of his ancestry his incompetence has become immense. Whoever is ignorant of his roots his intellect has vanished. Whoever does not know his place of origin, his honor has collapsed.”
Waziri Junayd of Sokoto

Shukr’l-Waahib

To date SIIASI has collected 3000 Arabic manuscripts and 123 Ajami manuscripts (Fulbe’, Hausa, Wolof and Mande’). Of these, more than 89 have been translated and published.

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Miraat at Tulaab

O Allah! Bless our Brothers in the Prisons.

It is important that the Muslim inmate population have a fundamental understanding of Islamic jurisprudence, beliefs and customs, along with a basic grasp of the diverse schools of thought in Islam. If this is not possible, then they should have access to those clerics who do possess this knowledge. In many cases court litigation fails, simply because the Muslim plaintiffs lack grounding in the basics of Islam. I would add to this, that Muslims should begin to learn, and understand international standards regarding the just and humane treatment of inmates.